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Daniel Richard Espinosa (born April 25, 1987) is a Mexican American professional baseball infielder for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim of Major League Baseball (MLB). He played in MLB for the Washington Nationals from 2010 to 2016.
Amateur career
Espinosa attended Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana, California. He then enrolled at California State University, Long Beach, to play college baseball for the Long Beach State Dirtbags. He played shortstop and batted .303 with 11 home runs and 98 runs batted in (RBIs) in his three-year career. As a freshman, he was the Big West Conference Freshman of the Year.
Professional career
Minor leagues
The Washington Nationals selected Espinosa in the third round of the 2008 Major League Baseball draft. Espinosa spent the rest of the 2008 summer with the Vermont Lake Monsters of the Class A-Short Season New York-Penn League, where he batted .328. The following year he was promoted to the Potomac Nationals of the Class A-Advanced Carolina League], and hit .264 with a .375 on-base percentage while hitting 18 home runs with 72 RBIs and 29 steals, and was a High-A and Carolina League All Star. He began 2010 with the Harrisburg Senators of the Class AA Eastern League, hitting .262 with 18 home runs, before being promoted to the Syracuse Chiefs of the Class AAA International League. With Syracuse, he hit .295 with four home runs and was just the second player in all of organized baseball to reach 20 home runs and 20 stolen bases in 2010. At Syracuse, Espinosa, who had played shortstop for his college and minor league career, was shifted to second base, since Ian Desmond was already playing shortstop for the Nationals.
Washington Nationals
When the major league rosters expanded on September 1, 2010, Espinosa was called up to the majors for the first time. He appeared in his first game that night. In his first at bat, he hit a ground ball to second base that took an odd hop and went into right field, allowing Espinosa to turn it into an RBI double when he saw that the right fielder hadn't charged the ball. On September 6, 2010 against the New York Mets, in his first game at Nationals Park, Espinosa went 4 for 5, with two home runs (the second and third of his career) including a grand slam and six RBI. Espinosa played in the Puerto Rican winter league after the 2010 season.
Espinosa had a productive 2011 season, hitting 21 home runs and stealing 17 bases. He finished 6th in the National League Rookie of the Year balloting. He was also hit by a pitch 19 times, tied for first with Justin Upton.
Espinosa began the 2012 season in an extended slump, hitting only .205 in April with 2 RBIs. He rebounded after the All-Star break, hitting .300 in July.
Espinosa began the 2013 season in a slump, hitting only .171 through mid-May. Espinosa was consequently sent down to the AAA club at Syracuse and batted .216 with 2 home runs, 22 runs batted in, and 6 stolen bases over 75 games for the rest of his season in the minors. In April 2014 he added another 3 home-runs to his baseball career along with .291 in batting and .831 on-base plus slugging.
Espinosa will represent team Mexico at the 2017 World Baseball Classic.
Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
After the 2016 season, the Nationals acquired outfielder Adam Eaton, with the intent of moving Trea Turner to shortstop. The Nationals then traded Espinosa to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim for pitchers Austin Adams and Kyle McGowin on December 10, 2016.
Espinosa's first hit as an Angel was a big three-run home run in the ninth inning that put Los Angeles ahead, 7-6, in his second game with the team. The Angels closed out the win in the bottom of the ninth, making Espinosa's home run the game-winning hit.
Personal life
Espinosa is of Mexican-American descent. He and his wife, Sara, had their first child in 2016.
